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Most of the photos on this site were taken by Merry Hearts Medicine (except the few that are public domain and all the ones credited with a name and link). I put a lot of time and effort into them, so please respect copyright laws regarding the material on this blog.
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I'm adding this copyright statement because you may be just like I was when I first began blogging: I thought nearly any photo on the internet was free to grab and use as I please. After blogging and dabbling in photography myself, I understand why people feel so proud and protective of their work.
Thanks!
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Click here for info on finding photos you can use without copyright infringement.

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Were you able to identify the subject of the mysterious photo from the last post? Guesses have included flowers or bugs. The object did come from the outdoors, but it didn’t come into our house in the condition you saw in the photo…

Blogging and photography have been pushed far, far down on my to-do-list the last few months. I miss them both, so today I am making the time to publish a “Macro Mystery” post. If it’s been so long that you don’t remember what this is, or if you’re new here at the Merry Hearts Medicine blog, I’ll explain…

Macro photography is so fun for me that I created a blog game with it. It’s probably something thousands of other people have done — I post an extreme close-up of an object to see if you can guess what the object is. If you have an idea as to what it might be, please leave a comment below! In a few days (hopefully), I’ll reveal the answer in another post.

You may figure this one out easily, even though the photo quality is not as great this time. (Sorry about that. I’m adjusting to a new camera.)

Do you enjoy trying to identify mysterious photos like this? If so, test your eagle eye with more Macro Mysteries posts.

So, give me your best guess! What is this spring thing?

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{After your answer has fully grown in your mind, click over to this post to see if you’re right!}

Solving puzzles and mysteries is good for your brain. “Use it or lose it,” right? So to keep your brain happy and healthy, today I present another challenge for you.

When I saw this object, I immediately thought that it would be perfect for a photo guessing game. I’ll even throw in an extra photo of the same object. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you believe it might be, so please share your guesses in the comments below.

Here’s a hint: I took these photos in March when the weather was cooler.

Do you enjoy trying to identify mysterious photos like this? If so, click here to see the entire collection of Macro Mysteries posts.

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{The answer has been revealed! You can now zip over to the next post to see what this unusual object is!}

Presenting a new challenge for you from my front yard…This one would have completely stumped me a few years ago. What do you think the subject of this photo is?

Here, I’ll back off a bit so you can see it better:

Let me add a couple more photos to make you wonder. The following photos are from the same subject, mind you, even though they look nothing like the first two.

Have you figured it out now? I’ll present the answer for you in a few days, including a brief story to go along with it. Until then, please leave a comment explaining what you think the photographic subject is today. I bet some of you know!

Do you enjoy trying to identify mysterious photos like this? If so, please click the following link to see similar posts: Macro Mysteries

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{Have you divined the answer yet? Check here to see if you are right!}

Day 20 goal: Use a photo editing program to tweak the contrast in your photos.

After a long day of working in the garden (and sunburning my shoulders — ouch!), my daughter and I decided to dispose of an old, wooden tomato trellis by burning it. The boards were soaked from five inches of rain that had fallen the previous few days. With several handfuls of paper out of the recycling bin, some additional dry sticks, and about 20 matches, we finally triumphed and managed to get a cheery fire going.

Here’s the initial fire in our homemade fire pit:

It looked much more dramatic and impressive when I took a photo without the flash — talk about an image with high contrast!

Here is the same shot with a longer exposure time, which causes the flames to have a more solid and blurred appearance:

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing in the gentle heat of our little fire while experimenting with camera settings. I tried several different settings for exposure and flash, and I used nearly every shutter speed my camera had from 15 seconds to 1/2500 of a second. I personally enjoy the higher shutter speeds which capture the details of the small, licking flames.

Here’s a gallery to share the results of my playtime. Sorry there are so many. I had trouble choosing!

fresh tinder blazes

high shutter speed

long exposure

It was so cozy!

crackled wood

embers at the base of the fire

wet wood really smokes

long exposure

pretty patterns

close up of embers under the wood

Awww…my third and final round of WordPress’ Photo101 class has ended. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

There will still be many more photos on this site in the future, I’m sure. Hopefully my skills will continue to improve with practice, and my photos will be more and more pleasing and interesting to view.

I’m always desiring to learn and improve upon my photography. If you have the time, I’d really appreciate hearing your opinion: Would you compare this post to the previous two and leave a comment telling me which one you like best and why? Thanks!

Triumph 2.0 — What a precious and picture-perfect subject I had to work with for this image! I wish you could meet her and see that sweet smile; she could brighten anyone’s day!

Triumph 1.0 — The first time I participated in Photo 101, I showcased the ultimate triumph I am striving to achieve — the thing that brings me the most happiness and hope in my life.

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Most of the photos on this site were taken by Merry Hearts Medicine (except the few that are public domain and all the ones credited with a name and link). I put a lot of time and effort into them, so please respect copyright laws regarding the material on this blog.
~~~
I'm adding this copyright statement because you may be just like I was when I first began blogging: I thought nearly any photo on the internet was free to grab and use as I please. After blogging and dabbling in photography myself, I understand why people feel so proud and protective of their work.
Thanks!
~~~
Click here to learn more about copyrights.
~~~
Click here for info on finding photos you can use without copyright infringement.